


Navigation Failure

by wanderingjedihistorian (RangerJedi67)



Series: Lost Shiny Adventures [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Humor, Rating for language use not content, Star Wars AU - Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24709954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerJedi67/pseuds/wanderingjedihistorian
Summary: A Torrent Shiny gets lost during his first leave on Coruscant. Things devolve from there. Fox is 10000% done with this nonsense.
Series: Lost Shiny Adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786480
Comments: 57
Kudos: 372
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SonicFairyspell13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonicFairyspell13/gifts), [LaylaYuy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaylaYuy/gifts).



Jesse and Kix were just about to head out of the barracks and off in to Coruscant when Rex stopped them.

"Sorry, LT, the General and I have meetings with the other Generals and Commanders that are on planet. YOU get to give the Shinies the shore leave briefing,” The Captain said, the grin on his face and the emphasis on Jesse’s rank proving he was not sorry At All about this. "Oh, and you're doing it in your grays, not your armor. The briefing is in half an hour."

Jesse flipped Rex a Kark-You-Kindly and Rex walked away laughing. The scout wondered what he had done to piss the Captain off this time.

Jesse promptly started cursing up a storm because in order to wear his officer grays, he had to go _FIND THE KRIFFING THINGS_. 

Kix sighed and promptly told the scout where the grays in question were.

Jesse smiled his most charming smile.

“Any chance I can also get you to come help me give the briefing?”

“Not a chance in any of the Nine Corellian Hells,” The medic replied.


	2. A Shiny Gets Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nav Fails At Planetside Navigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to LaylaYuy for the Shiny's name!  
> Thanks for the Soft Wars Discord for the inspiration for this fic.

CWCWCWCWCW

With Lt Jesse’s words still ringing in his ears, Nav happily followed his Coruscant Buddy Sergeant Ridge. The LT had explained that all Shinies were assigned to a veteran trooper on their first Coruscant Shore Leave.  
Lt Jesse had given them a list of instructions and restrictions before giving them each a credit chip with enough credits to cover a couple of meals and a souvenir or two if they were careful. They were then assigned their Buddy and told to enjoy themselves.

Sergeant Ridge was really quite nice. Nav knew he had asked a lot of questions, but the older trooper didn’t seem annoyed with him for it.

They wandered through a market. There were so many stalls selling things Nav had never seen before. He barely knew where to look. There was just so much, everywhere. He had never seen anything like it.

“Here kid, you have to try these!” Sergeant Ridge said as he pulled Nav towards one of the many food stalls.

“What are they?” The younger trooper asked excitedly after their order was placed and paid for.

Whatever it was they smelled so good and so unlike anything he’d had on Kamino or even on the _Resolute_.

“These, kid, are tuber fries!” The older clone explained in a pleased tone. “Be careful though, these are fried in oil, so they are hot!”

Ridge led Nav around the side of the stall to the table where all the different possible toppings were laid out. Nav’s eyes were the size of small moons. He didn’t even know what some of these things _were_.

“What do you put on yours?” The younger clone asked after a long moment of staring at all the choices.

“When it comes to tuber fries, I’m what they call a purist. A little salt is all I want. For a first time, that’s probably a good start. That way you’ll know what they taste like and next time you can try a different topping,” The older clone explained helpfully.

Nav just nodded and copied the Sergeant’s actions. Following his advice seemed best.

He knew if he stayed close to the older trooper, as he had been instructed to do, this day was going to be great!

CWCWCWCWCWCW

Nav looked up after completing the purchase of his new hat. He didn’t see Sergeant Ridge anywhere. 

That…wasn’t good. 

He headed in the last direction he had seen the other trooper in hopes he was simply at a stall just out of sight.

No luck.

Ok, that was fine. They had comms after all.

Nav tapped his comm and entered the Sergeant’s comm code.

Nothing happened. That was not good. Not Good At All.

‘Ok. I’m a fully trained trooper. It’s fine. I can handle this.’ Nav thought to himself.

CWCWCWCWCWCW

Nav had tried awfully hard to find Sergeant Ridge. The problem was…he now had no idea where HE even was. He certainly had no idea where to try to look for the Sergeant.

He had last seen the man nearly two hours ago and he had no idea how far he was from where he started.

And all he had done to lose the older trooper in the first place was stop to look at a stall with hats. He looked down at the new hat attached to his belt. It really was neat. It had colorful planets embroidered on it. And the little stars all around it glowed in the dark! Even though he was now lost, he was still very excited about his hat. And really, he had told the Sergeant he was stopping! It’s not his fault the older clone apparently hadn’t heard him.

He had two options now: keep trying to find Sergeant Ridge or find his way back to the barracks.

Lt Jesse’s words echoed in Nav’s mind: _“Be polite and the Guard will actually be nice. They can be very helpful, if you need it. Try not to need it.”_

So maybe the Guard could help him? But…if he couldn’t find Sergeant Ridge, how was he supposed to find a member of the Guard??

Nav wandered around trying (and failing to get his bearings) for nearly two hours and was no closer to an answer than before. He was hungry so he went over to a food stall he saw.

The being behind the counter was an older, but kind looking Rodian.

“Hello! What can I get for you?” The Rodian asked.

“Umm, well…see…I don’t actually know? I’m not sure what some of these things are,” Nav admitted.

The Rodian laughed.

“First time getting to visit Coruscant, young one?”

The clone replied, feeling a bit embarrassed, “Yes. It’s my first shore leave here.”

The Rodian smiled.

“Not to worry, young one! Not to worry. Let old Torani make a suggestion? If you are mostly used to the rations that I’m sure they feed you boys, you don’t want to start with anything spicy or with any other strong seasonings.”

“That sounds like very reasonable advice,” Nav agreed.

“How about something simple? We have space waffles on sticks with puffer pig bacon. Nothing complicated but they are tasty,” Torani suggested.

“I haven’t had those before. Yes, please, I’ll take that!” The clone said politely.

“Excellent choice!” The Rodian replied.

The area wasn’t busy so Nav didn’t feel bad chatting with Torani as he waited for his food.

“Looking for anything in particular down here?” The Rodian asked.

“Well, to be honest…I got lost. I got separated from my leave buddy and now I don’t know how to get back to where I was or try to find him. And I’ve tried sending comms messages, but it doesn’t seem to be working!” Nav explained.

“Well that’s terrible! But you’re in luck! Corporal Rys of the Coruscant Guard patrols not far from here in the afternoons with their new Community Outreach Meander. He should be less than a five-minute walk from here near that one main market square in just about half an hour. Plenty of time to eat your food and head that way!” Torani told him.

Nav thanked Torani profusely and went over to one of the handful of tables by the stall to try his waffles. The Rodian had suggested he try them with syrup, so he was following that advice. 

‘This is so good! Too bad we couldn’t have foods like this all the time!’ Nav thought to himself.

Oh well, he would just have to enjoy what he could while on leave.

He finished his food, thank Torani again and got directions to the square in question. The clone was extremely glad the directions were simple, even he shouldn’t manage to get lost!

It was longer than it should have been, but Nav managed to find Cpl Rys and his Community Outreach Meander. 

“Corporal Rys! Am I so glad to see you!” Nav exclaimed.

Rys blinked a couple of times. He wondered who this random vod was and who let this obviously Shiny child go out without supervision. 

“What’s your name, Shiny?” Rys asked.

“I’m Nav. Torrent Company,” Nav said politely.

“Ok, Nav. Is everything alright?” Rys asked.

Nav flushed in embarrassment. 

“I got lost. And my comm doesn’t seem to be working. I need help to either find my buddy or find my way back to Torrent’s barracks,” He explained.

Rys did not sigh. He did not. It was a close thing though. Torrent _really_ needed to keep a better watch on their Shinies.

Rys pulled out his comm.

“Trouble?” Thire asked as the comm connected.

“Found a lost Torrent Shiny,” Rys replied.

There was a sigh and a kark on the other end of the line.

“Bring him back to Guard,” Thire ordered. “It’ll be easier to coordinate his return from here.”

“Understood!” Rys replied. He turned to Nav, “Ok, kid, we’re heading back to CG. I’ll go slow with this thing; you walk next to me. It will take us about twenty minutes to get to the Guard Speeder. Understand?”

Nav quickly assured that he did and would do as ordered.

Fifteen minutes later Rys was regretting everything about his life after making the mistake of asking how Nav got lost. No one should be in this good a mood after getting lost and especially not over a _hat_ and _waffles_.

Fortunately, the Torrent Shiny was eager to be helpful. Rys made him do most of the work of loading the Meander in to the speeder.  
It was a _long_ trip back to Guard as Nav chattered the whole way, commenting on almost everything they saw. Rys really wanted to know: Where is his Responsible Adult and how did they let this child get lost?? Rys also wanted to have _words_ with the vod responsible for this kid. Unfortunately, he knew he’d have to leave that to Commander Fox, or maybe Commander Thire.

When they finally got back to Guard, Hound had also returned from his afternoon patrol with Sergeant Grizzer. Rys had zero idea how to describe the sound Nav made upon seeing Grizzer. Hound quirked his eyebrow. Rys’ hands flashed through a few quick signs indicating “lost Shiny” and “Torrent”.

“What’s your name, kid?” Hound asked.

“Oh, I’m Nav!” He said distractedly, not taking his eyes off the massif.

Hound and Rys shared a look.

“Would you like to pet Sergeant Grizzer?” Hound asked reluctantly.

There was that sound again. It was like some bizarre cross of deflating wheel, high pitched squeal and a squeak. Neither Guard had ever heard such a thing in their lives before.

“Yes, please!” Nav agreed excitedly.

Seriously. How did _Torrent let this child end up unsupervised???_ He obviously needed a minimum of two buddies for shore leave.

Hound indicated one of the seats and Nav bounded over to it. Grizzer was quite pleased to accept more attention. Shiny and massif were fast friends. Hound, Rys and Thire were glad it kept the Shiny occupied.

“Fox is on his way back from a meeting, he’s been apprised of the situation,” Thire told the others.

CWCWCWCWCWCW

“Where’s the Shiny?” Fox asked without preamble after his return to CG.

Thire gestured to the other side of the room where Nav was still happily petting Grizzer who was still happily lapping up all the attention.

Fox sighed.

“I’ll let that blond shit know we’re stealing the Shiny his people couldn’t be bothered to keep an eye on.”

Thire quirked an eyebrow at his boss.

“That’s not going to go over well.”

“Rys had to cut his patrol short to bring a little lost Torrent Shiny back here to Guard where he’d be safe. I’m not playing nice about this,” Fox said irritably.

Thire taps a quick ‘Kot’ and sees Rys and Hound do the same. Thing is going to interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ridge is real, but Wookiepedia didn’t have rank for him so I picked one.


	3. Throw Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fox tells Rex that Guard is keeping Nav. Rex Objects Strongly. The other CCs are having far too much fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nav is just too adorable. This is the last chapter of this fic, but he will definitely appear again.

CWCWCWCW

Priority Alert  
Fox: Rex. One of your idiots managed to lose the Shiny they were Shiny sitting. One of my boys found him. He’s ours now.

Priority Response  
Rex: Absolutely Not.

CWCWCWCW

Priority Alert  
Thire: Commander Cody, you might want to come down to CG. I think this is going to get ugly.

Priority Response  
Cody: Don’t let them kill each other. It’ll set a bad example.

Priority Response  
Thire: Yes, Sir.

CWCWCWCW

It was only Fox, Rex, Thire and the Shiny in the office. Cody had a feeling Fox had given the rest of his people orders to Be Anywhere Else. So, he was willing to yell a little.

"I SWEAR TO THE FORCE I CAN'T LEAVE ANY OF YOU UNSUPERVISED FOR FIVE KARKING MINUTES!" The Marshal Commander snapped.

"HE STARTED IT!" Rex and Fox both cried, pointing at one another.

Cody noticed the poor Shiny was looking very confused and also like he wanted very much to be anywhere but there.

"YOU'RE UPSETTING THE SHINY!" He informed them harshly.

The poor Shiny looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

“You know what, we’re done. The Shiny is MINE now. You have BOTH SCARED THE SHINY. He’s being transferred to Ghost because neither of you deserve him,” Cody snapped out before turning to said Shiny. In a much gentler tone he asked, “What’s your name?”

“Nav, sir,” The Shiny timidly replied.

“Nav, welcome to Ghost, since Torrent obviously can’t take proper care of you,” Cody said.

“You do not get to steal my Shiny!” Rex declared.

Cody gave him a Completely Unimpressed look.

“Jesse is on his way here with Ridge, who is very sorry to have allowed his buddy to get lost on his first shore leave on Coruscant,” Rex defended. 

“I’m so, so sorry, sir! I’m really good at astronavigation! But well…I’m not so good planetside,” Nav piped up, trying his hardest to sound properly apologetic. “I stopped to look at the stall with these neat hats!” He held up his newly purchased hat, with its embroidered planets and glow in the dark stars. “I told Sergeant Ridge I was stopping to look! He must not have heard me. When I was done, he was gone! I tried to find him, but I got lost.”

Cody, Rex and Fox sighed in unison. This Shiny was just so earnest and he practically a _baby._ Troopers were being sent out younger and younger and it _showed_.

Cody took a deep breath before encouraging Nav to continue his story. He regaled them all with the tale of his adventure through the Market before finding a member of the Guard. Cody tried very hard not to laugh as the Shiny chattered excitedly about being rescued and he even got to pet Grizzer once back here at Guard, sirs, isn’t that cool! 

(Cody and Rex shared a Look at that, this sweet innocent little Shiny. For just a moment, Rex was tempted to let Fox have Nav. The kid would be less likely to get hurt here.)

Just as Nav was finishing his recounting, Jesse and Ridge arrived.

“I hope you have a thorough explanation of how you misplaced the Shiny you were responsible for and an incredibly detailed plan for preventing it from ever happening again,” Rex said by way of greeting.

Jesse smirked. For once _he_ wasn’t in trouble and he wasn’t having to fix it either.

Ridge winced. He knew the Captain wasn’t going to be happy with his answer.

“He was right behind me, sir. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.” 

Rex was not pleased with the lack of answer.

“Well, Sergeant, a month of KP should give you plenty of time to consider all the ways not to let this happen again,” Torrent’s Captain said, tone hard but even.

Ridge didn’t even try to argue, simply responding, “Yes, sir.”

Rex turned his attention back to Nav, only to freeze.

Ponds had somehow arrived without any of them realizing it. He had an arm around Nav’s shoulder and was talking to the Shiny in hushed tones. Nav was now holding a cup of Hoth chocolate. 

Fox and Thire both used the Command Chat to summon Rex and Cody, respectively. _Of course_ Ponds saw it. If he was being honest with himself, Rex knew he should have seen this coming. He was already likely going to have to fight both Fox and Cody for the kid, he was NOT adding Ponds to the list.

“Absolutely not. Don’t even think about it,” Rex said flatly.

Ponds gave him a look that said “I Am Completely Innocent.” 

“Why, Rex’ika, I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Rex knew him far, far too well for that to _ever_ work. 

“Nav is Torrent. And no matter what some people seem to think today,” The Captain said as he turned a glare on all of the Commanders in the room, “that is not changing.”

“I’m just taking care of this poor Shiny that you all scared,” Ponds said innocently.

“And I’m the King of Coruscant,” Fox retorted dryly.

CWCWCWCW

Rex, Jesse and Ridge took Nav to Dex’s after they escaped CG. He found the friendly Besalisk intimidating at first but quickly warmed up to him.  
Nav talked about the bantha burger and blue milk shake for over an hour afterwards.  
None of the veteran troopers could bring themselves to tell him to tone it down. 

CWCWCWCW

Priority Alert  
Bly: Hey, Ponds. Have Fox, Rex and Cody killed each other? It’s been awfully quiet since Thire called Cody.

Priority Response  
Ponds: And how, pray tell, would I know such a thing?

Priority Response  
Wolffe: You went down to Guard. You know it. We know it. We know YOU.

Priority Response  
Ponds: Fair enough. I did go. It was too quiet. That made me nervous.

Priority Response  
Doom: Well? We want to know.

Priority Response  
Ponds: They are all still breathing and in one piece.

Priority Response  
Wolffe: In one piece doesn’t mean unharmed.

Priority Response  
Doom: That is very true.

Priority Response  
Ponds: Words were exchanged. Blows were not. They weren’t going to totally traumatize the poor Shiny!

Priority Response  
Bly: So, he’s safely back with Torrent?

Priority Response  
Rex: Yes, Nav is safely back WHERE HE BELONGS.

Priority Response  
Ponds: Rex’ika!

Priority Response  
Fox: If your idiots could keep track of their shinies, I WOULDN’T THREATEN TO TAKE THEM.

Priority Response  
Cody: And if you both could behave professionally, then I wouldn’t have to threaten to take said Shiny away from BOTH OF YOU.

Priority Response  
Doom: Ohhhhh. In trouble with ori’vod again, Rex?

Priority Response  
Rex: Kriff you, Doom.

Priority Response  
Doom: Not interested.

Priority Response  
Ponds: Now, now children.

Priority Response  
Neyo: This is how you all spent your afternoon? Shall I explain how I spent mine? You know, fighting this WAR WE ARE FIGHTING. 

Priority Response  
Bacara: Professionalism was obviously lost on most of them.

Priority Response  
Fox: Go kriff yourselves, both of you.

Priority Response  
Bly: The important part here is the Shiny was rescued and returned to his company. 

Priority Response  
Fox: You Shebse always have to have the last word. 

Priority Response  
Rex: Yes. Yes, we do.


End file.
